Restrictions on Abortion Pills Contradict Democrats’ Business
2023.02.25 01:58
Restrictions on Abortion Pills Contradict Democrats’ Business
By Tiffany Smith
Budrigannews.com – Twelve Democratic-led states have filed a lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration in an effort to challenge federal restrictions on the distribution of the abortion pill mifepristone. They claim that the restrictions are unsupported by evidence.
The lawsuit, which was filed on Thursday in federal court in Yakima, Washington, and was led by Washington state and Oregon, aims to make mifepristone more accessible by allowing it to be prescribed and dispensed by any doctor or pharmacy, just like most drugs. A special certification is currently required by pharmacies that sell mifepristone and doctors who prescribe it.
In the meantime, anti-abortion activists are filing a separate Texas lawsuit to restrict access to the drug.
In 2000, the FDA approved the use of mifepristone and misoprostol together as a medication for abortion during the first ten weeks of pregnancy. More than half of abortions in the United States are performed via medication.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court last year overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which had made abortion legal across the country, medication abortion has received more attention. More than a dozen Republican-led states were able to enact new abortion bans thanks to this decision.
In a statement announcing the lawsuit, Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson stated, “The federal government has known for years that mifepristone is safe and effective.” The FDA is putting patients, pharmacists, and doctors at risk now that Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court in a radical decision. The excessive restrictions imposed by the FDA on this crucial drug are without scientific basis.”
Mifepristone is “safer than many other common drugs FDA regulates, such as Viagra and Tylenol,” according to the lawsuit.
Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Rhode Island, and Vermont are the other states involved in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit was not discussed by a spokesperson for the FDA.
Mifepristone activists have asked a federal judge in Texas to take the drug off the market because they say the FDA approved it in an improper way and didn’t take into account how safe it was for minors.
The Democratic-led states are not only challenging the FDA’s restrictions on how the drug is distributed, but they are also asking the court to rule that the FDA approved mifepristone. This could conflict with any order in the Texas case that would require federal appeals courts to weigh in.
Under a safety program designed to reduce the risk of potentially hazardous drugs, the FDA imposes special restrictions on mifepristone. Since they were first imposed, the agency has eased those restrictions several times. In January, it made it possible for certified retail pharmacies to sell mifepristone.
Democratic President Joe Biden ordered federal agencies to expand access to medication abortion following the Supreme Court’s decision last year. Vote based U.S. VP Kamala Harris safeguarded mifepristone on Friday in the wake of meeting with regenerative privileges bunches at the White House, calling assaults against it an endeavor to go after essential American freedoms.
